Obamacare, Keystone collide in Senate energy fight

The current predicament is exactly what the bill's sponsors feared. | Reuters

“We’re here on the floor not to talk about health care or other unrelated issues,” Shaheen said. “We’re here to talk about energy.”

The Senate will hold no more recorded votes this week, and Reid said late Thursday he has instructed his staff to work with Republican staff on a way forward. “It’s been a totally wasted week,” he said.

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Senators discussed the Vitter dispute at separate Democratic and Republican lunches Thursday, including the possibility of voting on his amendment along with a Democratic alternative.

A resolution seemed far off Thursday morning, when Reid hit the floor to complain that the bill had been taken hostage.

“Of course we’re diverted totally from what this bill is all about,” Reid said. “Why? … Because the anarchists have taken over. They have taken over the House. Now they’re here in the Senate.”

He later added in a news conference, “This is not the time for political stunts, not contraception on a transportation bill, not Obamacare on an energy bill. If they want to work with us to improve Obamacare, let’s do it. But not in these guerrilla attacks.”

Some Republicans fired back at Reid for not allowing the Obamacare debate.

“Regular order before you got here is you could offer any amendment on any bill that you want,” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said, addressing his remarks to some newer senators. “And to not allow a vote on an amendment is cowardly, because it says, ‘I don’t want to vote on that issue.’”

The Vitter dispute somewhat distracted from the latest effort by congressional Keystone supporters to let lawmakers give the project at least a symbolic boost.

Hoeven’s amendment is a non-binding resolution calling on President Barack Obama to approve the pipeline, arguing it would serve the nation’s interest by promoting infrastructure investment, energy security and private-sector jobs. Unlike some previous pro-Keystone measures that passed the House, it wouldn’t trump the Obama administration’s authority to decide on the project.

“At this point, I think we’ll get a vote,” Hoeven told reporters. “But that can always change.”

Landrieu said she believes the amendment would get more than the 60 votes it needs to pass. She said it’s her understanding that the resolution would get a vote, but that she hadn’t spoken directly to Reid about it.

A Reid spokeswoman did not respond to questions from POLITICO about whether the measure will receive a vote.

In March, the Senate gave 62 votes to a non-binding budget resolution from Hoeven that said the pipeline would increase federal revenue. But at least a couple Democrats who voted for that resolution have said they would not vote for language usurping the administration’s decision on the project. Hoeven’s latest language steers clear from doing that.